1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pull cord assembly, more particularly to a pull cord assembly having a protective member for body stretching exercise.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional pull cord assembly for body stretching exercise generally includes an elastic cord made of elastic material, such as latex rubber, TPR (thermoplastic resin), etc. As such, the elastic cord will become brittle over time, especially at bent portions thereof. If the elastic cord breaks when being stretched, the user may be in danger of being hit by the broken cord. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional pull cord assembly 1 is shown to include a protective sleeve 12 which is formed by knitted nylon yarns and which is sleeved on an elastic cord body 11. If the cord body 11 accidentally breaks, the broken cord body 11 can be enclosed in the sleeve 12, thereby preventing the broken cord body 11 from flying about and hurting the user. However, the broken cord body 11 may snap back along a tubular space defined by the sleeve 12 and hit the user's hands. Moreover, since the nylon sleeve 12 is not flexible and has a length much longer than that of the elastic cord body 11 so as to permit sufficient stretching of the elastic cord body 11, the sleeve 12 has many irregular folds in a normal state, which adversely affects the outer appearance of the cord assembly 1, and which renders use of the cord assembly 1 with other body exercising devices troublesome.
In a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/271,150, entitled “Safety Elastic Rope,” filed by the applicant, there is disclosed a safety elastic rope which includes an elastic outer tubular rope having two longitudinally opposite first fixing ends, and an elastic inner rope inserted into the outer tubular rope having two longitudinally opposite second fixing ends connected respectively to the first fixing ends.